Monthly Essay

Every day it’s one more thing. Sometimes several things at a time.
Fire.
Flooding.
Death.
Disease.
Poverty.
Injustice.
Corruption.
Shootings.
Bombs.
Another Black or Native person killed.
Another cop goes free.
And here we are, trying to live.
It can feel overwhelming.
Poor, oppressed, and marginalized people know that one must rest … Read More » about The Scent of Pine: on life in Empire

Free Fiction

(In memory of Dan & Phil Berrigan)
The singing rose and fell around us, but I wasn’t joining in. I knelt, one hand on my mother’s back, the other gripping the wooden pew in front of me. I prayed to God, if he was listening, for him to heal whatever was wrong with her. Or at least tell the doctors what it was so they could treat it.
Times like this, I wished that I had magic. Or some outside force I could touch and taste and see to intervene, like the Murray family in A Wrinkle in Time. My parents bought me that book when it came out. I devoured the whole series, one after another.
They were still my favorite books, even though my Dad said I was too old for them.
Mom coughed into her favorite peach handkerchief, … Read More » about The Holiness of Trashcan Fires

Books I Like

I’ve loved urban fantasy since Charles deLint was called urban fantasy! I guess his stories are now officially “contemporary fantasy” but, whatever.
Here are two urban fantasy books I’ve read recently that I think you’ll like.
Ria's Web of Lies: Ria Miller & the Monsters Book 1 by Nigel Henry
“MY NIGHT STARTS out on a rooftop. Whose rooftop, I'm not exactly sure. I am sure that it's your typical New York City blacktop in the middle of your typical New York City summer. Which means it's hot as balls.”
Ria Miller is a tough and funny teen. She’s on that NYC rooftop, with her parents in position down below, because they’re out hunting … Read More » about Urban Fantasy

…and Other Things

For one more week, I'm part of a great deal!
The Universe Between: Nine fantasy novels and one story anthology for only $15.
The editor tried to pick fantasy novels that all live in the interstices of many different places, times, and viewpoints. As the liminal is one of my favorite places to explore, I’m thrilled to have been invited to this venture.
There are some great novels in here including some of my favorite writers – like Leslie Claire Walker, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Annie Reed, and Dayle Dermatis – along with the short story anthology that set the stage for this Universe Between theme.
The editor, Dean Wesley Smith, writes: "All of the books have strong elements of "between" in them. But T. Thorn Coyle takes ‘between’ … Read More » about The Universe Between